“This is a good first step by the Governor because reducing gasoline usage in California by 50 percent, while a noble goal, was proving to be not only problematic but very expensive. While the Governor chooses to blame oil companies for opposing this reduction, there’s no doubt that this targeted reduction would have hit California’s middle class and working poor the hardest.”

“I continue to be concerned about the mandate to achieve half of California’s power and electricity from renewable resources. Unless the Legislature scores big hydroelectric and nuclear power as renewable sources of energy, we will have trouble hitting this mandate and it will be very expensive. Californians already shoulder one of the highest power costs in the nation. Those costs could rise to unaffordable levels with the renewable mandate, forcing businesses to relocate to other states which would result in lost jobs, lost businesses and a high unemployment rate.”